


Face The Sun

by SilverButterfly111



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Coping, Friendship, Post-Season/Series 03, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24114145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverButterfly111/pseuds/SilverButterfly111
Summary: Kazi tries to move on after the events of 'Hearts of Cinder 'They think they are doing a pretty okay job on their own.They want to forget.They forget they friends who want to helpPost Season 3.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Face The Sun

Kazi examined the object they plucked from the ground and stood from their kneeling position. Glancing around the room. Adjusting their glasses so that the accusatory glare was all the more obvious "Anybody else?"

There was the usual and expected silence.

"I thought not."

Kazi let out a soft chuckle. Rubbing their fingers across their right cheek and leaving a smear of dirt like a warrior paint marking across their skin.

There's no one else here. They're glad of that. "You're talking to plants Kaz." Their own voice scolded as their dark fingers curled around the last of the weeds and burned it to ash. "No Earthblood Elf, but I'd say that we did alright." They wiped the weed ash off on their pants and looked around the greenhouse with a satisfied if somewhat tired smile. 

It's nice to be home. Though the exact reason why they're home instead of in Lux Aurea is less pleasant to think about. The great city's fall at the hands of dark forces is something Kazi would have rather read about in ancient books than lived through.

They rest their hands on the rough bark of the tree they were just tending to.

The little repurposed garden shed will never 

compare to the greenhouse of the university that they had studied at.

But it's at least a shade of familiar in a world that has been utterly flipped upside down so many times in the last three months.

First there had been meeting...interrogating… The human General Amaya. Then the fall of the greatest city. The murder of Queen Khessa. The Battle of Stormspire, the return of the Dragon Prince.

If someone had told Kazi half a year ago that they would be witness to history. What some more romanticized hearts might call the beginning of a new Era.

They would have laughed and shook their head. Told them that their horns were on too tight.

Kazi let out a sigh and pressed their palm across the rough bark of the tree taking a deep breath of floral air. Grounding themselves. "How do humans do it?" Their voice asked.

They do not expect an answer.

They do not expect a weight on their shoulder.

"General Amaya!" Kazi exclaimed after whirling around on the heel of their foot and instinctively flailing their arm to try and fend off an imagined attack.

The raven haired female General doesn't look offended or surprised by the attempt. The human just smiled softly and grinned. Squeezing Kazi on the shoulder in apology before she stepped away.

Kazi took another steadying breath. Unfurling their fisted hands and offering a half smile before their hands began to move.  _ "What are you doing here?" _

_ "Checking on you." _

Came the quick response. The somewhat expected response even though they had not expected Amaya to be here.

_ "I'm alright." _

The human that Kazi has come to think of as a friend- in some sense of the word- narrowed her dark eyes. Setting her jaw in a way that makes Kazi shift a step backwards. They have never seen the General fight but they've heard plenty of stories from the soldiers that have managed to make it back from the Breach and the Stormspire both. The occasional one or two of those stories from the General herself.

" _ Janai was concerned. She hasn't received a letter from you in over a month." _

_ "Queen Janai need not worry about me,"  _ Kazi protested. 

Amaya's dark gaze shockingly did the opposite of harden.

_ "You didn't need to risk coming across the border to inquire on my health."  _ Kazi insisted with a rare bright flash of stubbornness that they had learned from the woman standing before them now.

_ "Janai expressed concern for you. But she did not ask me to come to you. I am here of my own choice." _

_ "I am fine...I am here."  _ Kazi brushed their fingers across the petals of a sunflower. Flinching when they disturbed the flower too much and sent golden petals to the dark earth below.

It's the bird-fluttering quick movement that catches Kazi's attention again and they flinch a second time at having forgotten their friend.

_ "You're not fine, you're not here…"  _ Amaya's hands went momentarily still by comparison to their usual pace when Kazi lifted an eyebrow at the statement.

Amaya let out a nearly silent sigh and tapped her own temple before continuing on with her speech.  _ "You're stuck up here. You're thinking." _

__ There's a long pause. Kazi bites their lip despite the lack of verbal speech that has happened in the past ten minutes. Their fingers twitching as they attempt to put thoughts into motions. They don't want to talk about it but they have never been the best at being quiet.

Unless they're being yelled at.

But Amaya doesn't yell in the way that most elves and humans are used to.

Kazi doesn't think that the Kotalian would yell if she could. Or at least...not right now. Not at them.

_ "How do you humans do it?"  _

They repeat their question from earlier.

_ "How do you grow, everything is so overwhelming. How do you think so many thoughts at once. How do you keep weeds out?" _

_ "You seem to be managing as well as any one person can. It's hard to do when you're by yourself." _

__ Kazi's shoulders slumped.

_ "You're by yourself all the time, you see things like that a lot more than I have. A lot more than I want to…" _

__ Amaya reached out and took hold of Kazi's hands. Squeezing them hard. It doesn't hurt, but it does make them blink. Make them stop. They know when they're being told to listen instead of talk.

A pair of nods exchanged between them and Kazi managed another somewhat uneven exhale before Amaya seemed satisfied enough to pull away.

_ "I'm not alone, I have Commander Gren and Callum and Ezran and Janai- when she can find enough time- and I like to think that I have you to talk to if I need...and you are not alone either. You have me. I'm here. I can't help you pull it out by the roots. Not everything. Not completely. But I will be there for you. However I can." _

__ Kazi smiled. Just a little and nodded just as much.

_ "Any advice?" _

_ "Be a sunflower, face the sunlight wherever you can find it." _


End file.
